March 2013 Newsletter

Welcome to the MARC Newsletter a publication of the Michigan Area Repeater Council.
This news letter is published quarterly in conjunction with the quarterly business
meetings. If you prefer a non-columnized version of this newsletter
click here for the wide version.

Please notice the instructions for the March electronic meeting.

Presidentís Update:

This last three months were very busy for MARC volunteers.
New coordinations and a few de-coordinations were finalized.
The job of supplying the ARRL with the Michigan database was
completed by Dave, WD8DJB, MARCís database manager. This is
used by the ARRL to build the yearly repeater directory.
Check out the almost constant updating that Dave must perform.
Data updates are available on the web site by looking at the
MARC quarterly report.

You may find that some repeaters that you hear on the air are not listed
in the repeater directory. This may be for several reasons. First, only
coordinated repeaters are listed in the directory. In some cases, a
repeater is put on the air that cannot be coordinated. The reason
may be due to the distance to a coordinated repeater.This could be
a co-channel or adjacent channel repeater and could be located in
Michigan, or might be in a surrounding state or Ontario, Canada.
Distance requirements must be met, or waivers have to be signed
by the existing repeater sponsors before an application for
coordination could be finalized. In many cases, a waiver cannot
be obtained. In other situations, the sponsor may request that
their repeater is not to be included in the directory.

Another frequent problem that occurs is that the annual report (TDS) to
update MARC records is not sent in for 3 or more years. Per MARC bylaws,
an update is required every year, but an additional year is permitted
before a repeater is considered overdue. If a sponsor or trustee does
not take the time to report that their repeater is still on the air, as
well as providing the location, power, antenna, and other important
coordination data to MARC, the repeater is removed from the directory.
In some cases, this is the only time a sponsor or trustee submits a renewal.

Please, if you are a sponsor of a repeater, make sure your TDS report is
up to date; your repeater is on the air and it is providing the coverage
that you agreed to when your coordination was granted. If you cannot
provide this minimum requirement, then you are obligated to return the pair
to MARC. There are people on the coordination waiting list that, in some
cases, are located in geographical locations where a coordinated but
non-used pair could be issued to them. Unfortunately, they are unable
to obtain their desired coordination until the sponsor of the non-used
repeater returns the pair or a sometimes difficult de-coordination effort
is undertaken by MARC volunteers.

73, Phil W8IC

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Electronic Meeting Information:

The March meeting is an Electronic Meeting!

PHONE BRIDGE ONLY:

Dial In Number: 888-232-3870
Event ID: 603585#
1. Dial into bridge using Dial In Number
2. Enter Event ID
3. If the meeting organizer is already present,
you'll be connected. If not, you'll be
placed on hold until the organizer appears.

WEBMEETING & Phone Bridge:

Your browser must be Microsoft™ Internet
Explorer Version 4.x, 5.x or Netscape™ Communicator Version 4.x.

Participation in the webmeeting is only needed for things like slideshow
presentations, or use of a whiteboard where someone may need to do an illistration.
It also allows us the opportunity to display the actual text of a motion for everyone
to read. If you are unable to participate in the webmeeting you may still join in
on the phone bridge from wherever you are.

The abilities for MARC to use the Phone Bridge and Webmeeting facilities has been brought
to us by Jim WB8AZP and his employer.

We hope that moving to this format will increase participation by the membership of MARC
so that we are better able to serve the amateur community.

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Database Manager's Corner

The ARRL Repeater directory went to press on January 29, 2013. Any updates
since will be included in next years publication. At this time the ARRL
is excluding Mototrbo type systems until the FCC resolves a few legal
issues surrounding amateur use of Mototrbo. MARC does publish Mototrbo
systems in our repeater directory.

A number of repeaters were removed from the ARRL and MARC repeater
directories for lack of a current update. The ARRL requests that we
provide information for active fulltime repeaters. So if we do not
receive a TDS for three years we will drop your repeater from the ARRL
and MARC repeater directories as we have no easy way to determine if
your repeater is operational.

We have a number of TDS forms that are overdue, 25% of the repeaters
in our database have not been updated in two or more yearís. So take
a minute and check your entry in the MARC Repeater Directory to see
if it is time to update your records.

We are attempting to respond to every TDS form we receive by return
email so you know that your form has been received and you have a copy
of what was submitted. If you submitted a TDS and did not receive an
email response please contact us at mail@miarc.com.

Note: call signs of board members are not repeated in the minutes as
they are listed above.

Meeting called to order by Phil at: 1:05 PM.

Motion to approve minutes from the September meeting were made by Dan, seconded by Fred, vote taken, minutes approved.
Treasurerís report for September and October are in the newsletter. Dave is not here to give the November report. Dave informed
Phil that he would send out banking information to the board for audit.

Old Business:

Phil reported that Resolution 12 now needs to be voted on for inclusion into
the bylaws. The resolution was read by Phil. Motion made by Fred, seconded
by Jim to accept the resolution into the bylaws. Discussion, voice vote taken,
motion passed. Resolution 12 will now be added to the MARC bylaws.

Next, Resolution # 13 was read by Phil, also ready for vote for bylaw inclusion.
Discussion. Motion to include this resolution in the bylaws made by Jim,
seconded by Fred, voice vote, motion carried.
Resolution #13 will now be added to the bylaws.

Last meeting follow-up Phil stated that he would write up a DOG resolution
to include the new SNPR pair so that Dave can place the info on the MARC web site.
Done At the September meeting, Fred stated he would set up a simulcasting
experiment to see how it would perform. The intent was to help develop rules
for MARC coordination standards. The experiment is currently up and running.
Much discussion followed. MARC will continue to accept input from interested
parties as this technology is developed. MARC has no specific rules to
coordinate simulcast repeater systems at this time.

Fred had asked about sponsor and secondary sponsor on the TDS application.
Dan stated that this is still an issue on the web site because it will cause
problems with the software. Phil will check with Dave on the possibility of
adding text to the application that would add the secondary sponsor to the
comments section until a permanent solution can be reached.

Phil thanked Fred on his de-coordination work. MARC now has several open
repeater pairs available to the coordinator.

New Business:

K8ABZ has signed the non-disclosure letter for MARC. Dan made a motion to appoint
Jim, K8ABZ to a position as a coordinator, second by Jim. Vote taken, motion passed.
Jim will be working on out of state cross coordination requests on 10, 6, and 2 meters
as well as 440 MHZ, as soon as he is comfortable with the procedures.
Note: Dan, N8WKM handles the 220 MHZ band as well as all bands 900 MHZ and up for out of state requests.

Paul, KC8BDK joined the meeting and stated that he was trying to set up a meeting with Corwin but
Paulís schedule has not allowed this to occur. He requested that Corwinís repeater on 146.740 be
coordinated. Phil stated that he needs a waiver from K8BYI repeater, the SEMARA club. Paul said
that he would contact the SEMARA group and request that the waiver be signed and returned to
Phil so that he can continue with Corwinís coordination application. Phil stated that he
would also contact SEMARA and let them know what took place at this meeting.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn made by Fred at 1:57 pm, seconded by Jim.
Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 1:57 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Ann Manor, KT8F, Recording Secretary

Treasurer's Report
For the Period: 11/30/2012 to 01/31/2013

MARC Funds balance on 11/31/2012 was $ 4,483.03

Total income for December & January was $111.67 from Dues & interest.
Expenses for December and January were $3.84 for postage and PayPal fees.